employee loyalty

In Love ‘Em or Lose ‘Em: Getting Good People to Stay, Beverly Kay and Sharon Jordan-Evans write about creating commitment cultures.

After 20 years of research and 60,000 exit interviews, the Saratoga Institute reports that 80% of turnover is related to unsatisfactory relationships with the boss. Talent retention and engagement will remain one of management’s highest priorities over the coming years. In fact, in the current global economic situation with its ever-increasing reliance on talent and technology, retention and engagement are critical to an organization’s survival.

Organisations therefore need to focus on three areas to retain and engage their talented people:

Employee development – Support learning and growth.

Find ways to continuously develop and grow workers’ talents. Enrich and enliven employees’ work, making every effort to increase the time they spend on desirable and innovative work. Help workers identify opportunities for moving laterally as well as vertically. Link workers to mentors, coaches, leaders, or colleagues who can offer guidance and support.

Management style – Inspire loyalty.

Ask employees what they want from their work and what it takes to keep them motivated. Provide constant feedback – clearly, truthfully, and respectfully – and, in return, listen closely and carefully. Look for creative, meaningful ways to recognise and reward workers. Create a culture of inclusion – valuing not only differences of race and gender, but thoughts, experiences, and attitudes as well. Hold managers accountable for retention and then give them the training and the tools to do it.

Work environment – Create one that people love.

Let fun happen. Share information freely and regularly. Give people space – providing the freedom to get the job done in ways that work best for them, from their schedule and attire to their approach and process.

There are many complex reasons why some organisations are more successful than others in attracting and retaining the best people. However, studies reveal some common patterns. The most significant of these clearly boil down to questions of leadership.

If your business is selling retail items, you no doubt have seen the figures that create links between customer satisfaction and loyalty.

But what about employee loyalty? What about the measurements you use to test how loyal your staff are to your company? This interesting quote by Frederick Reichheld compares the relationship between employee loyalty and customer loyalty… Learn More

Google’s vice president of people operations, Laszlo Bock, says, “It’s not the company-provided lunch that keeps people here. Googlers tell us that there are three reasons they stay: the mission, the quality of the people, and the chance to build the skill set of a better leader or entrepreneur”.

I find it interesting that one of the world’s top ten brands actually measures through analytics why their people stay and progress with the company. Many companies we work with never get round to asking the basic questions as to why people work there, never mind analysing it so they can help them develop.

Have you asked why people stay with you? What motivates them to come to work each day and stay loyal to your company?

If you want to maintain anything like the loyalty that Google enjoys, maybe you should start thinking seriously about what you are doing and can do to keep your people loyal to your company.

Take a look at Google’s top three reasons why people stay. Firstly, the mission of the company. It states “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It’s clear, specific and makes people want to believe in it.

How does your mission make your people feel? Do they aspire to be better simply by reading it and do they want to live it? Or do they even know what your mission is?

Secondly, Googlers stay because of the quality of the people there. Ask yourself whether that’s one reason why you have staff loyalty; because they are happy with the quality of the people they work with. This needs a commitment to development and learning and advancement throughout the whole company, and will create an environment of creativity and innovation, if it is nurtured.

Thirdly, it’s the chance to improve their leadership skills while they work there. Do your people have the opportunity to learn, advance, create, produce, grow, develop and progress through job enrichment and shared responsibilities? Remember, if your people aren’t growing in their jobs, they are hibernating, and may be simply waiting for something better to come along.

Naturally, not all of us can aspire to be like the Google’s of this world. But we can all share a bit of the attitude and commitment they show towards their staff. With zero per cent turnover of staff in the last twelve months, and an average of 100 resumés received every day from aspiring co-workers, it appears the company has a knack of keeping employees loyal. Let’s hope some of that magic can rub off on us!